Electrical connectors are generally used to provide signal connections between various electronic devices and have electrical contacts for connecting electrical signals as well as ground.
Due to usage of micro-electronic devices, the increase in complexity of design of electric circuits has resulted in the need to use electrical connectors with closely positioned electrical contacts. It is generally known that such close proximity may cause crosstalk between adjacent signal contacts.
Crosstalk is an electrical phenomenon in signal transmission due to electrical signal interference between adjacent signal lines. Crosstalk in signal transmission leads to loss in signal integrity. Crosstalk in high speed electrical connectors can cause insertion of unwanted spikes into signal lines resulting in loss of high frequency signals. Often, resonance occurs when there is a shift in frequency due to crosstalk, which leads to signal degradation.
Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 1, in order to reduce crosstalk, a connector 100 is has adjacent signal contacts 101 separated from ground contacts 103. In other words, signal contacts 101 are located in between ground contacts 103 and separate ground coupling contacts 105 are provided to connect all the ground contacts 103. The electrical connection of separate ground coupling contacts 105 to ground contacts 103 relies on mechanical force of the ground coupling contacts 105, which deteriorates over time.
There is thus a need to provide an electrical connector that seeks to address one or more of the above disadvantages.